Park, S. (2021, February 4). Reviving the old, surviving the time, connecting the people: an analysis on ‘heung’ in recent Korean popular culture. 2021 Korea Research Collaboratory, Perth (virtual).
Participating in the 2021 Korea Research Collaboratory ‘Beyond han: New interpretations of Korean emotions’ held by the Korea Research Center of Western Australia was such an inspiring experience.
This study which started after watching the epic performance of LEENALCHI and Ambiguous Dance Company on YouTube defines heung as a relational affect and explores how it is expressed, interpreted, and employed in the recent sociocultural context.
Abstract
While han is considered one of the best words to sum up the soul of Korea, recent popular culture is shedding new light on ‘heung(흥, 興).’ Heung, the intrinsic sense of joy of Koreans, has been regarded as a ‘cultural DNA’ of Koreans. In recognition of its significance, this study attempts to explicate heung in cultural studies perspective. While preceding research on heung mostly focus on its aesthetic and artistic aspects, not much attention has been given to its sociocultural and political aspects. In fact, heung has played a vital role in keeping up the spirits of Koreans even in hard times throughout history. Particularly in the 1980s, it formed a backbone of pro-democracy movements, having been permeated into protest songs. Noting that emotion is not just an individual’s inner feeling, but rather a ‘relational affect’ that facilitates communication and community building, this study defines heung as a cultural politics that reveals an aspect of Korean society. For the analysis, this study observes the recent Korean popular culture that recreates or revives heung: the performance of “LEENALCHI” and “Ambiguous Dance Company” who combine pop music with traditional Korean music. Observations on what verbal and nonverbal expressions stand out in their performance reveal how heung looks like and in what ways it is produced. And by analyzing how the audience perceives and reacts to them in the context of current Korean society, this study provides how people employ heung as a self-technic to keep their hearts up in the midst of pandemic and socioeconomic crisis. As a relational affect, heung manifests itself at the heart of relationships, traversing diverse individuals and generations. And through heung, people connect with each other by sharing common nostalgic values and by embracing reality, not evading it.
SOJEONG PARK 